“Bachelor In Paradise was extremely successful with young audiences and on our digital platforms, MasterChef Australia continues to perform strongly in our key under 50s demographic and scripted comedy Mr Black launched last week #2 in its timeslot.

“From tonight, Grant Denyer is bringing the laughs to 6pm with Celebrity Name Game and Aussie favourite Have You Been Paying Attention? returns. On Wednesday, we’re really excited to have Five Bedrooms start at 8.40pm. From the creators of Offspring, it’s Aussie drama at its finest. Plus, we have our 2018 Pilot Week shows, Kinne Tonight and Taboo and Todd Sampson’s Body Hack to come in the next few weeks.

Grant Denyer on Celebrity Name Game with Beau Ryan and Courtney Act

“Our Q2 schedule is packed with a diverse range of returning and new shows, filled with all the ingredients to entertain our under 50s audience.

“Across our digital platforms, we’ve been really impressed with the numbers coming through for our first 10 Speaks podcast, The Professor and The Hack – a must-listen in the lead up to the Federal Election this Saturday. 10 Play enjoyed its biggest month ever in April and 10 Daily continues to go from strength to strength as it charges toward its first birthday tomorrow.”

Stephen Curry was a front row warrior for 10 last week with the successful launch of the sitcom Mr Black.

The Melbourne actor first heard about the role from his friend and creator/writer Adam Zwar.

“He asked me if I wanted to play the boyfriend in a piece about an old man who has a go at his daughter’s boyfriend,” Curry told Mediaweek.

“I thought it sounded pretty good – he makes his daughter’s boyfriend’s life a misery.

“I read it, and loved it, but by the time I got back to him he told me he had changed his mind and he wanted me to play the dad.

“I asked him if it was because of my grey hair and he said ‘yes’.”

Curry suggested his friend was very brutal. “It is better to have friends though who are going to let you know how things are.”

Zwar showed Curry the script before production house CJZ came on board. “It might have been Damian Davis at CJZ who suggested I was too old to play the boyfriend. Once CJZ came on board things started moving quickly for the series which ended up with 10.”

Curry noted that scripted comedy is rare on FTA TV these days. “It is harder and harder for commercial networks to justify the difference in what it costs to make a scripted piece to what it costs for a reality piece. You can make a lot more hours in reality.

“Network 10 has been leading the charge in bringing back scripted content to TV. They treat their FTA audience to content that is becoming very rare. Hopefully shows like Mr Black will turn up more frequently on FTA TV.”

When it comes to what is attractive about working on TV, Curry said: “To be really brutal about it, more people are going to see it. It is pretty hard to get Aussies to go to the cinema to watch Australian content.

“On TV there is access to a much bigger audience. And now with on demand services like 10 Play, that content is even more available to a far broader audience than it had been before. With FTA services having their own on demand platforms it is great. We can’t tell people when to watch television these days, but with shows now available on those platforms like 10 Play it gives them a life of their own.”

Curry also likes the speed at which television is made. “It is more enjoyable because you have to get much more done in a shorter period of time. You feel like you have to be on your toes and there is no time for mucking around. You can see TV happening before your eyes. Often with work on a film it can be like watching paint dry. It can depend on the paint of course.”

Curry and Zwar have worked together before, but only briefly, on an episode of Rake. “I played Jackie McKenzie’s husband with whom Adam Zwar’s character was having an affair. Over the course of that episode we managed to cut each other’s penises off. The court case that ensued was equally ridiculous. It was very Rake!”

There first meeting was in the 90s while Curry was doing publicity for a film and Zwar was still a journalist for the Herald Sun. “I’m going to say I was the catalyst for him to get into the entertainment industry. Without me Adam Zwar would have nothing.”

In Mr Black, Curry plays a rabid Collingwood supporter – the club he supports in real life. So far in his career, Curry reminded us how many clubs he has supported onscreen. “I have been a Tigers supporter in a show on The Comedy Channel in the 90s. I have played a West Coast supporter as Damien Oliver in The Cup and a couple of other things. I kind of feel dirty, very dirty, wearing jumpers that aren’t black and white. But I am prepared to don other sticking jerseys for arts sake.”

In a career with a few writing credits alongside his acting CV, Curry said he would like to do more and he revealed he is developing something for the ABC. “Over the last 15 years I have gotten close a couple of times [to developing my own project]. There is a general sense that people see you as an actor with a laptop. You need one hit for people to let that go.

“I find a lot of joy in writing and most of the stuff that I have written professionally has been leading up to being more autonomous and not having to wait around for other people to cast you in things.”

Lego Masters back: Michael Healy & Mark Fennessy on second season

The feel good program has proved to be popular with people of all ages and dominated its timeslot in all capital cities.

Each episode has attracted a total average national viewing audience of 2.216 million*, including regional audiences, encore screenings and streaming on 9Now.

Lego Masters premiered with a massive national average audience of 2.134 million, making it the highest rating launch episode of any series this year.

It is also the only program on Australian television in 2019 to have an overnight metro audience of more than one million viewers for every episode**.

The format sees eight pairs of contestants tasked with creating mind-blowing models and masterpieces out of the world’s most famous plastic bricks.

In his element as host is Hamish Blake, alongside resident judge Ryan “Brickman” McNaught, the Southern Hemisphere’s only Lego-certified professional.

With imagination their sole limitation, teams are required to conceptualise and craft some of the most ambitious and impressive Lego creations ever built in an attempt to claim the $100,000 prizemoney.

Michael Healy, director of television for Nine, said: “Lego Masters is wholesome viewing that appeals to the entire family and we’re thrilled that it has been so warmly embraced by Australian viewers. The show boasts a great array of characters, the likes of which we haven’t seen on other programs.

“At its core, Lego Masters is a celebration of creativity, showcasing the power of imagination. We can’t wait to see what our teams create for viewers in 2020.”

Mark Fennessy, CEO, Endemol Shine Australia, added: “It’s the breakout hit that’s fascinated the nation – the passion for Lego construction is truly infectious. Visually exciting, with warmth and good humour, Lego Masters encourages pure imagination and brilliant family engagement. We look forward to bringing the world even bigger OMG moments in Lego Masters series two.”

Pacific partners with TEG Analytics to create customer data platform

Pacific has announced an exclusive partnership with TEG Analytics which sees the creation of one of Australia’s largest and richest proprietary Customer Data Platforms.

Pacific’s Customer Data Platform (CDP) is fuelled by first-party data derived from monthly content consumption of 6.6 million digital devices. This behavioural, demographic and cultural data is driven by TEG Analytics’ 15 million active customers and insights from one of the largest discretionary transaction data sets in the country.

Pacific said the CDP will deliver benefits for the commercial partners of both Pacific and TEG Analytics through the combination of research, cultural understanding and data science.

The commercial director of Pacific Nicole Bence said: “This fusion of data enables us to deliver from insight through to activation by enhancing identified audiences and matching our unidentified audiences against TEG Analytics’ 15 million IDs – a process that has seen a record match rate of 85%.

“We can then overlay our client’s first party data to better understand how their consumers interact with our brands and their preferred content formats. This rich, unrivalled data source is already empowering our creative teams to deliver insight-led storytelling at scale.”

The general manager for TEG Analytics & TEG Insights Andrew Reid said: “As one of Australia’s largest lifestyle publishers, Pacific is an ideal partner to provide an alternate solution to existing claimed behaviour data sets using TEG Analytics and its lifestyle data analysis.”

The CDP is part of Pacific’s newest division, Pacific Insights (Pi), which is responsible for driving the rollout of the CDP with clients and agencies, and its integration into the company’s internal content and marketing teams.

This new audience intelligence consultancy, led by Rebecca Alexander-Head, is a team of researchers and cultural insights experts, supported by an industry leading team of data scientists. Pi is designed to fuel business growth with highly relevant data, research and intimate audience insight.

TV Week 19: Sport helps Seven compete against Nine’s Lego Masters

Nine had the edge for most of week 19 and led the week up until Friday when it was Nine on 20.3% to Seven’s 20.2%. However AFL gave Seven a big kick on Saturday night via a share of 26.1% which pushed Seven into top spot with 20.9% to Nine’s 19.6%.

Seven

Seven’s Saturday – 26.1% – was the best share anyone has had since the final two nights of Nine’s Married At First Sight. Helping secure that big Saturday audience was the Showdown – Port v Crows clash in Adelaide on Saturday night, which delivered Seven Adelaide an all people primetime share of 44.7%.

Seven News was its strongest performer with only one episode of House Rules and Home And Away also making it into the top 20 for the week.

Sunrise and The Chase continued to be clear leaders in their dayparts.

Seven managed to rank #1 in the key demos with combined channel share.

Nine

For the second week Lego Masters continued to perform. In its first week the new show filled three of the top four spots in the weekly rankings, this week it had three of the top five, with all episodes again holding above 1m.

There has been some speculation Nine might push out more LegoMasters episodes next year, but Nine is more likely to remain prudent and go with three weeks of three eps again. (See separate recommission item.)

Nine News and A Current Affair were both strong performers, with an episode of the final season of The Big Bang Theory also sneaking into the top 20.

10

While MasterChef Australia has boosted the ratings bottom line, it may not have lifted as much as some predicted. 10 did managed to record its second successive week with share over 11%, something it hasn’t managed since weeks five and six.

10 had two episodes of MasterChef inside the top 20, and two just outside.

The channel’s only other entry in the top 50 was the strong debut from the new Adam Zwar/CJZ sitcom, Mr Black.

When you look at 10’s numbers through the filter of under 50 they had a good week: MasterChef Australia episodes all performed well under 50.

The Wednesday episode achieved its biggest ever seven-day BVOD audience of the series. The final seven day catch up numbers came in for Bachelor In Paradise. Season two saw an average growth of 49% in TV timeshift and BVOD audiences to its overnight audience. The Sunday Project, Hughesy, We Have A Problem, 10 News First, The Project 6.30pm and The Living Room all saw week on week growth. 10 Bold continues its momentum with 15th consecutive weeks of year-on-year FTA share growth.

ABC

The final episode of Vera screened on Sunday May 5 was the channel’s best for week 19. ABC News was the other entry in the top 20.

Australian Story went close, ranking #21 last week.

The channel’s other shows over 600,000 were Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders and Australia Votes: Leaders’ Debate.

SBS

In the week before Eurovision will turn the ratings tide (live coverage plus replays on Thursday, Friday and Sunday nights), share was down a little on the primary channel (5.0% to 4.5%), but the dip was offset by Viceland lifting from 1.1% to 1.4% as SBS combined channel share remained steady on 7.1%.

The channel’s biggest audience for a second consecutive week was Who Do You Think You Are?

Nine moves editorial production in-house

Nine is discontinuing its sub-editing agreement with Pagemasters and bringing editorial production at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review in-house to be done in their newsrooms.

This means that a number of new staff will be hired in the coming months to bolster editorial production at each of the mastheads in Sydney and Melbourne. The equivalent of 24 new positions will be created by the changes, with sub-editors to work onsite in the newsrooms by September 30.

Executive Editor of The Herald and The Age James Chessell said: “This is great news that reflects the importance of The Age and The Herald’sjournalism as well as the mastheads’ strong financial position.

Subscribers expect quality and having our production resources as part of the same team will improve our ability to edit and present our journalism.”

Financial Review Editor-in-Chief Michael Stutchbury said: “This decision is warmly welcomed by the Financial Review as we believe it will allow us to redouble our efforts to build cross-platform production expertise and boost the quality of our products for subscribers,”

Pagemasters will continue to provide some production services to the mastheads covering racing pages, TV listings, advertising feature page layouts and comment moderation.

Lady Gaga & Jonas Brothers performing for Nova Red Room US tour

Nova’s Red Room US Edition is delivering listeners the ultimate money can’t buy experience with Jonas Brothers performing live in LA, before heading to Las Vegas to see Lady Gaga in concert as part of a special Nova’s Red Room experience departing in June.

Smallzy will be the host of this latest Nova Red Room adventure overseas.

Working together with Universal Music Australia, the ultimate Nova Red Room US Edition will see Australian fans stay at Sydney’s The Star before travelling to the USA to see world superstars Jonas Brothers in an intimate performance in LA. Winners will then be jetting off to see Lady Gaga live in concert at the iconic Park MGM in Las Vegas.

Listeners have the chance to get on the standby list for Nova Red Room US Edition by tuning into Nova’s breakfast shows around the country, across the day and Smallzy’s Surgery from 13 May, with the winners announced in Kate, Tim & Marty later that month.

ARIA Chart Report

Singles

Old Town Road holds top spot for a fourth consecutive week with Lil Nas X. The song continues to break new ground in the US too where a country-flavoured rap tune has topped the mainstream singles chart for a fifth consecutive week.

There were only two debuts on the singles chart this week and they both made the top 10:

#4 Shawn Mendes with If I Can’t Have You, which is the first track released from his forthcoming fourth album.

#6 Logic featuring Eminem with Homicide, a track from US rapper Logic’s fifth album, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, released last week.

The other item of note in a relatively quiet week on the chart is the appearance of US rapper, singer and songwriter Lizzo in the top 50 with Truth Hurts, up from #74 in its second week charting. As well as making a mark on the chart, Lizzo was hard to miss on the red carpet at her first Met Gala appearance last week.

Albums

P!nk’s Hurts 2B Human moves into week two of what could be a long chart run if her previous chart success and popularity in Australia is any indicator. ARIA noted this week that P!nk’s longest run on top was across the summer of 2010/2011 when Greatest Hits…So Far!! did 13 weeks at #1.

The highest new chart position, and the only one of four new top 50 debuts to crack the top 10, is Vampire Weekend with its fourth album Father Of The Bride. Although the band is tipped to score its third #1 US album today, the best the US rock band has previously achieved here was #2 with its album Contra in January 2010.

After we noted that all three Queen albums slipped out of the top 10 last week, Greatest Hits slips one place to #31 this week, while The Platinum Collection drops out of the top 50 (just – to #51).

Not far off cracking a top 10 spot this week is David Campbell who debuted last week at #33 with Back In The Swing. The album has climbed all the way to #14 in its second week.

Three other new releases to debut top 50 are:

#19 Amon Amarth with Berserker – The 11th album from the Swedish masters of melodic death metal. #26 Ruby Fields with Permanent Hermit/Your Dad’s Opinion For Dinner. EP release from the Sydney indie rocker. #28 Bad Religion with Age Of Unreason – 17th album from the veteran US punk rockers who formed 39 years ago.

Top 10 Game Charts: Days Gone holds off Mortal Kombat for another week

No changes to the top two games in this week’s video game retail sales chart, with Days Gone holding firm in the number one spot – despite a lukewarm critical reception – and Mortal Kombat 11 sitting right behind it.

By Cam Shea, editor-in-chief, IGN Australia

While Mortal Kombat reviewed well, NetherRealm, the studio behind the game, has recently been accused of having a toxic work environment by current and former employees. This is far from being an isolated incident in the world of game development, with Riot Games – the company behind the hugely popular League of Legends – being another recent high profile example of a studio under fire, in this case for gender discrimination and harassment, among other things. Riot employees even staged a walkout earlier this month. Hopefully bringing these issues into the light results in positive changes.

The rest of the top ten for the week is largely made up of familiar faces, and indeed, there’s probably not going to be a great deal of change across this relatively quiet month. The biggest releases ahead of us in May are probably Rage 2 (May 14), Team Sonic Racing (May 21), Total War: Three Kingdoms (May 23) and Cricket 19 (May 28).

Sunday Week 20 2019

Breakfast TV

• Sunrise 255,000• Today 181,000

Seven

The Sunday whole-house reveal gave House Rules its second-biggest audience since launch – 704,000. Sunday last week was 685,000.

Sunday Night then recovered with 607,000 after an audience just over 400,000 last week. The episode presented the first part of what reporter Matt Doran was up to during a recent trip to Africa that saw him detained by authorities.

Nine

Another good start to the week courtesy of Lego Masters. The first of the final three episodes saw Maddy and Jimmy eliminated from the contest for the cash. The episode did 1.12m, which is the second best audience this season after it launched with 1.37m back on April 28.

60 Minutes then did 492,000, which is its smallest audience this year. It was only a few weeks ago it was up over 1m.

Australian Crime Stories returned to its Sunday evening slot, but without as strong a lead-in as it has enjoyed in the past. The episode did 280,000.

10

MasterChef was the channel’s best with 573,000, but despite the presence of Nigella Lawson, the down on the previous Sunday’s 638,000. Nigella even visited the MasterChef house to surprises the contestants when they arrived for breakfast still in their PJs.

The Project was on 378,000 at 7pm.

Highlights of the Montreal Comedy Festival did 231,000 later in the night.

ABC

The crime drama double didn’t pay off as well as it did a week earlier. The Sunday share dropped from 15.0% to 11.6% week-on-week.

Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders did 485,000 after launching on 602,000.

The return of Harrow then did 455,000 for the start of its second season.

SBS

David Baddiel On The Silk Road was on 171,000 after 7.30pm, the channel’s biggest Sunday audience.

Week 19-20 TV: Friday-Sunday

FRIDAY METRO

ABC

Seven

Nine

10

SBS

ABC

10.0%

7

24.5%

9

17.6%

10

10.8%

SBS One

3.9%

ABC KIDS/ ABC COMEDY

3.1%

7TWO

4.2%

GO!

3.3%

10 Bold

3.2%

VICELAND

1.0%

ABC ME

0.7%

7mate

5.5%

GEM

2.2%

10 Peach

1.9%

Food Net

0.6%

ABC NEWS

1.6%

7flix

2.7%

9Life

2.6%

NITV

0.1%

7Food

0.4%

TOTAL

15.3%

37.3%

25.7%

15.9%

5.7%

SATURDAY METRO

ABC

Seven

Nine

10

SBS

ABC

11.5%

7

26.1%

9

14.5%

10

7.1%

SBS One

4.6%

ABC KIDS/ ABC COMEDY

2.7%

7TWO

3.5%

GO!

3.5%

10 Bold

2.8%

VICELAND

1.5%

ABC ME

0.6%

7mate

7.9%

GEM

4.4%

10 Peach

2.1%

Food Net

0.9%

ABC NEWS

1.3%

7flix

2.0%

9Life

2.4%

NITV

0.3%

7Food

0.6%

TOTAL

16.1%

40.1%

24.8%

11.9%

7.2%

SUNDAY METRO

ABC

Seven

Nine

10

SBS

ABC

11.6%

7

20.3%

9

24.2%

10

10.9%

SBS One

4.0%

ABC KIDS/ ABC COMEDY

2.8%

7TWO

2.6%

GO!

3.1%

10 Bold

2.9%

VICELAND

1.4%

ABC ME

0.5%

7mate

5.4%

GEM

2.0%

10 Peach

1.8%

Food Net

1.0%

ABC NEWS

1.3%

7flix

1.5%

9Life

1.8%

NITV

0.2%

7Food

0.4%

TOTAL

16.2%

30.2%

31.2%

15.7%

6.7%

SUNDAY REGIONAL

ABC

Seven Affiliates

Nine Affiliates

10 Affiliates

SBS

ABC

11.8%

7

21.4%

9

20.2%

WIN

8.0%

SBS One

3.8%

ABC KIDS/ ABC COMEDY

2.8%

7TWO

4.1%

GO!

4.2%

WIN Bold

1.9%

VICELAND

1.1%

ABC ME

1.2%

7mate

5.6%

GEM

4.3%

WIN Peach

1.7%

Food Net

0.9%

ABC NEWS

1.3%

7flix (Excl. Tas/WA)

2.4%

9Life

1.8%

Sky News on WIN

1.0%

NITV

0.2%

7food (QLD only)

0.5%

TOTAL

17.0%

34.0%

30.5%

12.5%

6.0%

SUNDAY METRO ALL TV

FTA

STV

85.3%

14.7%

All People Rankings

Friday Top 10

Seven News Seven 928,000

Nine News Nine 833,000

Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 829,000

Nine News 6:30 Nine 778,000

A Current Affair Nine 573,000

Seven’s AFL: Friday Night Football Seven 572,000

Better Homes And Gardens Seven 570,000

The Chase Australia Seven 562,000

ABC News ABC 542,000

Hot Seat Nine 492,000

Saturday Top 10

Seven News Seven 790,000

Nine News Saturday Nine 679,000

Seven’s AFL: Saturday Night Football Seven 562,000

ABC News-Sa ABC 557,000

Seven’s AFL: Saturday Night Football – Post Match Seven 400,000

Call The Midwife ABC 376,000

The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco ABC 374,000

M- Independence Day Seven 368,000

Seven’s AFL: Saturday Night Football – Pre Match Seven 365,000

Pitch Perfect 2 Nine 307,000

Sunday FTA

Lego Masters -Sun Nine 1,126,000

Seven News Seven 1,028,000

Nine News Sunday Nine 1,001,000

House Rules Seven 704,000

ABC News Sunday ABC 660,000

Sunday Night Seven 607,000

Masterchef Australia 10 573,000

60 Minutes Nine 492,000

Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders ABC 485,000

Harrow ABC 455,000

The Sunday Project 7pm 10 378,000

Seven’s AFL: Sunday Afternoon Football Seven 366,000

Insiders AM ABC 295,000

Sunday Afternoon NRL Live Nine 290,000

Australian Crime Stories Nine 280,000

Weekend Sunrise Seven 255,000

The Story Of The Royals Seven 251,000

Compass ABC 235,000

Just For Laughs 2018 Montreal Comedy Festival 10 231,000

The Sunday Project 6.30pm 10 218,000

Sunday Multichannel

M- Avengers: Age Of Ultron PM 7mate 197,000

Insiders AM ABC NEWS 166,000

Octonauts ABCKIDS/COMEDY 134,000

School Of Roars PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 131,000

Bluey AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 130,000

Nella The Princess Knight AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 130,000

Border Security – Australia’s Front Line -7PTMWO 128,000

Fireman Sam PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 126,000

Play School AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 126,000

Peppa Pig PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 125,000

Floogals ABCKIDS/COMEDY 124,000

Molly And Mack PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 122,000

Border Security – Australia’s Front Line 7TWO 122,000

Peter Rabbit ABCKIDS/COMEDY 120,000

Dino Dana ABCKIDS/COMEDY 118,000

PJ Masks AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 116,000

Peppa Pig AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 114,000

Rusty Rivets ABCKIDS/COMEDY 111,000

NCIS (R) 10 Bold 110,000

Olobob Top AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 109,000

Sunday STV

Live: NRL Rabbitohs V Cowboys FOX LEAGUE 276,000

Live: NRL Roosters V Raiders FOX LEAGUE 200,000

Live: AFL Fremantle V Richmond FOX FOOTY 185,000

Live: AFL North Melbourne V Geelong FOX FOOTY 181,000

Live: Sunday Night With Matty Johns FOX LEAGUE 138,000

Live: AFL Hawthorn V GWS FOX SPORTS 503 119,000

Live: Motorsport: F1: Spain Race FOX SPORTS 506 96,000

Bounce FOX FOOTY 90,000

Live: Bounce FOX FOOTY 89,000

Live: Controversy Corner FOX LEAGUE 73,000

Paul Murray Live Sky News Live 61,000

MotherFatherSon BBC First 59,000

Live: A-League SF Sydney Fc V Melb V FOX SPORTS 505 58,000

Live: F1: Spain Pit Lane Race Day FOX SPORTS 506 52,000

Outsiders Sky News Live 43,000

NCIS TVH!TS 42,000

PML Later Sky News Live 41,000

NCIS TVH!TS 41,000

Outsiders Sky News Live 38,000

Kenny On Sunday Sky News Live 34,000

Shares all people, 6pm-midnight, Overnight (Live and AsLive), Audience numbers FTA metro, Sub TV nationalSource: OzTAM and Regional TAM 2018. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) without the prior written consent of OzTAM

Media News Roundup

Business of Media

Ad market slows: Commercial radio ad revenue drops in March quarter

Commercial radio metropolitan advertising revenue declined by 2.6% to $181.612 million in the March quarter compared to $186.518 million in the same period a year ago, according to data compiled by Deloitte and released today by industry body Commercial Radio Australia.

Ad revenues fell slightly across all five major capital city markets in the quarter, in line with softening economic conditions.

Melbourne was the largest market, attracting $58.856 million in ad revenue in the March quarter (down 1.37%), followed by Sydney with $56.336 million (down 1.70%).

Brisbane commercial radio stations reported a 4.66% decline in revenue to $27.531 million, while Perth was 4.69% lower at $23.183 million and Adelaide was down 3.82% to $15.705 million.

“Weaker business conditions and election uncertainty are impacting on all media sectors. Many advertisers have plans on hold until after the election,” said Joan Warner, the chief executive officer of industry body Commercial Radio Australia.

The Deloitte figures report actual revenue received by metropolitan commercial radio stations and include all metropolitan agency and direct revenue.

Metropolitan radio ad revenue rose 3.40% to $809.421 million in calendar year 2018.

News Corp explores options in Asia for Foxtel refinance

News Corporation is canvassing Asian debt investors as part of a $2.5 billion refinancing of Foxtel to help its under-pressure pay TV operator take on streaming rivals Netflix and Stan, reports The AFR’s Max Mason.

Despite the fact Foxtel is battling declining revenue and earnings, sources close to News Corp said there was particular interest from Asia in Foxtel’s debt because it still has cash flow to handle repayments.

Although the significant pressure on Foxtel has led to speculation about what rates investors and banks will lend at while the business is still attempting to turnaround.

Clive Palmer to lead multi-million cash splash on poll eve

A multi-million-dollar advertising spending bonanza is set to flood the media market ahead of the federal election on Saturday, reports The Australian’s Lilly Vitorovich.

With a staggering $57 million-plus already spent on election ads across commercial free-to-air television, radio and newspapers by billionaire businessman Clive Palmer and three political parties, the final week of the hotly contested election campaign is seen as critical to win over voters.

Palmer’s United Australian Party, which has spent $39.1m on ads across traditional media, is expected to ramp up ad spending across the board, with Liberal and Labor trailing well behind, advertising and media executives say.

From 12am Thursday, political party ads won’t be allowed on commercial television and radio because of the election advertising blackout law. But it does not affect print and digital media, including Google, YouTube and Facebook.

TV networks to run election ads on streaming apps during blackout

Free-to-air networks will still show election advertising on television during the so-called blackout period this week by allowing paid political campaigns to be watched through their digital catch-up apps or on smart TVs, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Jennifer Duke.

A legally-enforced blackout period will be in place from 12am on Thursday until the polls close on Saturday at 6pm to limit voters from making rash choices based on an advertisement. The rules were also created to curb political parties from making untested claims when there isn’t enough time for scrutiny.

But while these rules apply to broadcast media, including the major TV companies and radio licence holders, the law doesn’t apply to streaming applications like Seven West Media’s 7plus, Nine Entertainment Co’s 9Now and Network 10’s 10play.

Breaking up (with) Facebook is hard to do. But not impossible

One of Facebook’s co-founders – and a Harvard classmate of MarkZuckerberg’s – caused a significant stir last week by calling for the giant social network to be broken apart, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s John McDuling.

The case for breaking up Facebook may be strong, but actually making it happen is far easier said than done.

In short, any attempt to get Facebook to divest Instagram and WhatsApp will require a lot of political resolve, and global co-ordination. These are two qualities that are not in abundance in the international community these days.

News Brands

Chris Kenny: Shrill wind blows with Bill’s call of News bias

Bill Shorten has taken a leaf out of Donald Trump’s playbook, trying to delegitimise his critics by screaming media bias. The differences are that Shorten’s News Corp paranoia is a hardy perennial of Labor’s political performance art and his situation is the polar ­opposite of Trump’s, reports The Australian’s Chris Kenny.

The US President attacks the majority groupthink and fake news that remains almost maniacally antipathetic towards him; Shorten enjoys soft, forgiving and supportive coverage from most media and lashes out at one of the only places that subjects him to anything approaching adequate scrutiny.

It is scandalous that so many in the media abrogate their responsibility to voters by giving Labor a free pass on these issues. News Corp newspapers and Sky News, along with some Nine radio stations, are the only places these crucial issues are examined.

Adelaide & Sydney: ‘One-of-a-kind’ editor Peter Wylie made his mark

Former Advertiser Newspapers managing director and chairman PeterWylie has been hailed as an illustrious media industry leader who made a lasting contribution to South Australia, reports News Corp’s Paul Starick.

Wylie, who died on Sunday aged 76 of progressive supranuclear palsy, also was editor of the Sunday Mail, The News and Sydney’s Daily Mirror in a distinguished career spanning more than 50 years.

Leaving his first job in department store John Martin’s ticket writing and advertising departments, Wylie joined the Glenelg Guardian in 1960 before working at Messenger Newspapers and joining Adelaide’s The News as a copy editor in 1967.

By 1986 he was editor-in-chief of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, then was general manager of News Limited’s Sydney newspaper division from 1987-91 and Advertiser Newspapers managing director from 1991-2002. Wylie’s extensive career ended in 2012, with his retirement as Advertiser Newspapers chairman, a role he had held since 2006.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller said: “Peter was a fierce editor with an unrelenting passion for the stories that would make his readers laugh, cry and pay attention.

“He was tough, determined and always certain in his opinions. He influenced and mentored many careers and, as a business leader, helped drive our company’s successes in NSW and SA.

“Peter was one of a kind and we are deeply grateful to his contributions over many decades.”

Television

Television HYBPA? Seventh season for a hilarious take on very serious subjects

When it comes to news, it seems to go down better at 10 with a large spoonful of humour, reports The Australian’s Andrew White.

As Have You Been Paying Attention? prepares to return to the airwaves tonight 10 will be hoping it can continue its established trend of increasing its audience every year.

At an average 715,000 viewers across the metro market and 1.15 million, including regional and seven-day audiences, it out-rates the 10 News and its current affairs flagship The Project but trails MasterChef.

Host Tom Gleisner says they put plenty of research into the show every week, but please don’t treat it as the real thing: “A few people have said to me – and I think this is rather disturbing – that they get their news from our show.

“I can only caution people out there, please, we are not exactly a paper of record.”

Politics and pageantry meet as Eurovision 2019 kicks off

With a mixed backdrop of politics and pageantry, the “orange carpet” of the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest has been unfurled in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Michael Idato.

Artists representing 41 countries were on parade but in a strong nod to pan-European support for Australia’s participation in the contest, all eyes were on our entrant, singer Kate Miller-Heidke.

The 37-year-old Brisbane-born singer turned heads and sent fans into a frenzy as she arrived in a black Steven Khalil gown that was equal parts Maleficent and magnificent.

But fielding questions from media, the conversation turned quickly to the serious subject of Eurovision’s political context this year: its close proximity to the Israel-Gaza border and calls to boycott the event by activist groups.

“It’s difficult but I thought deeply about the decision to come here and I stand by that decision,” Miller-Heidke said.

Australia is competing the first semi-final on Wednesday morning, Sydney time, along with Cyprus, Montenegro, Finland, Poland, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belarus, Serbia, Belgium, Georgia, Iceland, Estonia, Portugal, Greece and San Marino, competing for 10 slots in the grand final.

Radio

2GB hands Alan Jones breach of contract notice after airing two calls

A breach of contract notice sent to broadcaster Alan Jones this month is the third Jones has been handed by 2GB management since a $3.7 million defamation case relating to Queensland’s Lockyer Valley floods went against the radio station in September, reports News Corp’s AnnetteSharp.

Macquarie Media CEO Adam Lang has warned Jones that two callers put to air on his breakfast show on April 29 made statements that were potentially in breach of the broadcaster’s existing five-year contract, which is set to expire on June 30.

In a move that suggests Macquarie has lost patience with its biggest star, an angry Lang listed radio management’s issues with the calls – among them that Jones failed to dump the callers when they criticised 2GB management, Jones’s fellow broadcasters and the board of Macquarie’s parent company, Nine.

Alan Jones ready to re-sign with 2GB as big guns take over talks

No less than Macquarie’s second biggest shareholder John “Singo” Singleton, and chairman RussellTate have intervened in talks with the Jones camp, and by yesterday, the odds had firmed significantly that Jones will now stay at 2GB, reports The Australian’s Nick Tabakoff.

Singo’s involvement in the talks is particularly interesting. The larrikin adman has a huge vested interest in the talks. He is desperate to sell his 32% Macquarie stake to Nine.

But Singo needs Jones to be locked down at 2GB if he has any hope of reaping the $100m he wants for his shares.

Sports Media

Landmark sporting deal: NBL in women’s league buyout

Larry Kestelman’s National Basketball League is in due diligence to potentially buy the Women’s NBL, with his privately owned league set to announce it is taking control of all Australian basketball commercial assets, reports The Australian’s John Stensholt.

The NBL today will announce a landmark deal with governing body Basketball Australia to gain control of all national basketball teams, the WNBL and grassroots commercial properties.

The league will then attempt to sell new naming rights sponsorship and broadcast deals for the Australian Boomers men’s national team, which will play the US national team in two blockbuster matches in Melbourne in August, as well as the Opals women’s side, the WNBL and junior competitions. Basketball Australia will share in the revenue earned by the NBL, which Kestelman – on The Australian’s The List of Australia’s Richest 250, with wealth of $605 million – took control of from the governing body in a $7m deal four years ago.

Melbourne’s grip on Formula 1 Grand Prix season opener tightens

Australia looks set to retain its grip on Formula One’s season-opening race, based on commentary by the New York-listed company that owns the sport, reports The AFR’s Peter Ker.

Liberty Media’s F1 boss Chase Carey told investors on Friday that Melbourne was one of three cities that had “clearly” established their position on the F1 calendar, alongside the famous Monaco Grand Prix each May and the now traditional season finale in Abu Dhabi in November.

Liberty Media plans to increase the number of grands prix in coming years, but Carey said some host cities’ place on the schedule was secure.

“We have a few races that clearly have places on the calendar, you know Monaco that’s a place that is pretty established, Abu Dhabi is the last race, Australia is the first race so you have those,” he said.

Hanoi will host the first Vietnam Grand Prix next year and Carey said that meant an existing host would have to miss out.

Sam Newman reveals Footy Show regret: ‘I stayed too long’

Sam Newman says his only regret about his time on The Footy Show is that he stayed a year too long, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.

Newman, 73, put the demise of the once popular show down to the “age of being careful”.

“Probably, my only real regret was that under the present format I stayed a year too long on the show,” he said.

“I would have been more relaxed and I would have felt better if I had left a year before because the change of the format of the show in the last year (2018) was not conducive to any of my limited talents and it was a wasted year for me really considering the way the show was going.”

Newman said he was saddened by the axing of The Footy Show, saying it changed his life.

Seven secures exclusive rights for Manchester United WA visit

Channel 7 will exclusively broadcast the historic Manchester United games against Perth Glory and English rivals Leeds United at Optus Stadium on July 13 and 17, reports The West Australian’s Adrian Barich.

The deal means the Manchester United versus Perth Glory Saturday night match airs on 7Two, then four nights later the blockbuster Manchester United versus Leeds United game will be on 7Mate at 6.30pm.

“We are extremely excited to showcase these two huge games to an Australia-wide audience,” Seven West Media WA chief executive Maryna Fewster said.

“Optus Stadium has secured some massive sporting events in 2019 and we are delighted that we can broadcast these two games to our audience.

“Channel 7 is the premier network in Australia when it comes to sport broadcasting and these two blockbuster games at Optus Stadium demonstrate Channel 7’s commitment to sport.”